Monday, April 23, 2007

I completed the Childline Challenge on Sunday morning, but had a bit of a 'mare to be honest.

Chris (who was riding shotgun with me rather than competing) and I seem to have taken a wrong turn after the Memorial and I found that I had to dismount and carry my bike up a few steps to get back on the main path.

I jumped on the bike again and changed down gears drastically while pedalling hard, with the - probably inevitable - result that my chain came off the chainring and got jammed. I tried to untangle it for what seemed like an age, then gave up and started to push the cycle to the stage end at Sketty car park, only to be saved by a Knight of the Road who got off his own bike and showed me how I could fix mine. (I was pleased to be able to thank him after the race and have made a vow to learn some maintenance myself.)

All these troubles - I learned later that Chris had encountered the same problem - meant that by the time I got in the pool - stage 2 of the race - I was way behind the group with whom I had started. It took all the will power that I had to complete ten 50m lengths rather than a sneaky catch-up eight as no one was checking, but I gritted my teeth and did it properly.

Subsequently, I girded my loins and ran the 3 or 4 miles back to Knab's Rock to finish last among my peers.